After the Fire
by kuroshitsuji-squiffy
Summary: AU in which the fire was an accident and no one died. Hiro starts at SFIT and is a little nervous; luckily, Tadashi will look after him, of course.
1. Chapter 1

**This story changes the events of the movie a little. In this AU:**

 **The fire was an accident and has no plot significance.**

 **Callaghan isn't evil.**

 **Tadashi doesn't die (I could never do that to him haha don't worry)**

 **Hiro starts at SFIT normally (well, a few weeks late since he and Tadashi end up in hospital and need to recover)**

 **I don't own Big Hero 6 or any of these characters.**

 **~princess**

The flames flicked spitefully in the dark night. People ran screaming from the building, almost falling over in their haste to get away. Tadashi and Hiro, however, were running in the opposite direction to everyone else; Tadashi's caring instincts had taken over immediately and he was anxious to make sure that everyone safely left the building. His little brother Hiro was right behind him. If Tadashi was going to be in danger, so was he.

Tadashi paused for a moment to look distraught at the fire, the he frowned and carried on running. Hiro gulped and sprinted after him, staying close to his side.

"Are you okay?" cried Tadashi to a passing woman.

"Yeah I'm okay, but Professor Callaghan's still in there!" she shrieked, pointing back at the building. Without a second thought, Tadashi raced over to the steps.

"TADASHI!" yelled Hiro, seeing Callaghan running out from behind the building. He had probably escaped through a window or another door. "DON'T GO IN THERE! CALLAGHAN'S HERE!"

Tadashi's head whipped around and his face was relieved when he saw Callaghan a short distance away. The professor moved towards him anxiously. "Tadashi, get away from there!" called the man. Hiro was crying now, but the boy didn't even notice.

Tadashi began charging towards them, but the building suddenly violently exploded and the blast sent them all flying backwards. Tadashi tried to grab Hiro as he fell, to ensure that his brother landed on top of him, but it was no use. The blast was too strong.

 _Later, at the hospital:_

Hiro's eyes slowly opened. He was in a white room that smelt strange, and a bandage was wrapped around his head.

A woman in a blue uniform was in a corner of the room, busily writing something. When she glanced up and noticed that Hiro was awake, she rushed out of the room.

Confused, Hiro sighed and closed his eyes again. He was interrupted by a man's voice.

"Did you say he's awake?"

Hiro's eyes snapped open to see a doctor standing worriedly by his bedside.

"Yes, I'm awake," he said, accompanied by a coughing fit. He was surprised by how much of a struggle it was to say that, and how raspy his voice sounded.

The doctor noted something down. "Suffering from the smoke, I see. You also have a head injury."

"Do I?" Hiro couldn't feel anything at all except the bandage on his head.

"Yes. We've given you some strong painkillers but you'll be feeling strange for a while. No long lasting damage, though."

Hiro's stomach twisted as Tadashi slipped into his mind. "Where's my brother?" he asked.

"Is his name Tadashi Hamada?"

"Yes…" Hiro's hopes rose; if they knew who Tadashi was, he must have been brought here too. Surely his injuries were no worse than Hiro's.

"He's in a different department. He's broken his leg and fractured his ribs. He's also suffering from the smoke. No head injuries, though. You'll both be fine."

"Can I see him?"

"If you can walk, yes."

Hiro pushed himself into a sitting position and swung his legs over the side of the bed. He slowly got his feet, swaying slightly but determined to see his brother.

The nurse showed him into Tadashi's room. The broad shouldered young man was sitting up in bed, and smiled at Hiro.

"Hey, bonehead! Glad to see you're awake!"

Hiro beamed and scrambled onto the bed, sitting cross legged besides Tadashi, careful not to touch the man's legs.

"Are you okay?" asked Tadashi in concern.

"I'm fine," said Hiro contentedly.

"You don't look fine with that massive great bandage on your head," said Tadashi, gently flicking Hiro's nose.

"It doesn't hurt," reassured Hiro.

"Wait till the painkillers wear off."

"Tadashi!" whined Hiro. "I'm fine. Are you?"

"Aside from my leg being broken and my ribs hurting slightly, I'm great. Hey bonehead, your voice doesn't sound too good…"

"Oh, yeah," said Hiro hoarsely. "It's just the smoke."

Tadashi took a glass of water from his bedside table and handed it to his little brother. "Drink up, bro."

Hiro rolled his eyes but took the glass and sipped from it. "When do we get to go home?"

"You'll probably get to go home soon. I'll be in here a while longer, just because of my leg."

Hiro wasn't happy about that. "I'll be lonely," he protested.

Tadashi snorted. "You'll have Aunt Cass and Mochi. I'll be stuck in here. I won't even have my favourite bonehead," he teased, ruffling Hiro's hair.

"How can I be your favourite? You don't call anyone else that," countered Hiro.

"Doesn't matter," said Tadashi, grinning at him. "You're still my favourite."

Hiro's cheeks turned a pretty shade of pink. Tadashi burst out laughing.


	2. Chapter 2

Hiro sighed with boredom, lazily sketching designs in his notebook. He'd never been away from Tadashi and so hadn't realised how…empty he felt without his brother to joke with and go to advice. He even almost missed being randomly tossed around like a sack of potatoes or taken by surprise with one of Tadashi's tickle attacks.

He and Aunt Cass had visited the man almost every day but they were only ever allowed in for an hour. Hiro missed his brother. A lot.

"When does Tadashi come home?" he asked Aunt Cass at dinner that evening.

"Oh honey, he comes home next week. Not long to wait. Why don't you go to SFIT? That'll take your mind off it."

"I don't want to start without Tadashi," said Hiro. His past school experiences hadn't exactly been positive, not to mention that he was shy and would be uncomfortable with asking people where to go. Honey, Go Go, Wasabi and Fred had all started the new term three weeks ago so Hiro hadn't seen much of them except when they took him to visit Tadashi. That was always fun, because they laughed and joked like a family and with Tadashi there, Hiro was comfortable enough to join in.

Time skip

Hiro bounced his leg up and down impatiently. Aunt Cass had gone to get Tadashi, and he had been sitting near the main entrance for ages.

Where on earth were they?

Ten minutes later, Tadashi hobbled around the corner on his crutches, Aunt Cass in tow. The young man grinned with delight to see Hiro, who had leapt to his feet and rushed over. They awkwardly hugged, Tadashi struggling with his crutches but Hiro more than making up for it by squeezing Tadashi like a lemon.

"Hiro, you can't jump on him or anything," reminded Aunt Cass gently, knowing her youngest nephew's boisterous, energetic attitude. Hiro nodded seriously.

"I know, Aunt Cass!" he replied, bouncing lightly on his feet. "Come on, let's go."

The journey to the car was slow. Hiro helped Tadashi as much as he could- at least, he thought he was helping but there was only so much support a short, frail kid could give to an athletic, well-built nineteen year old male.

Tadashi gave a sigh of relief as he collapsed into his car seat, abandoning the crutches on the floor. Hiro sat beside him, careful not to kick his legs. Tadashi turned his head to the side and smiled fondly at his little brother, who grinned back.

"Gosh, it was boring in there. Your visits made my bloody day," said Tadashi tiredly, running a hand over his face.

"Tadashi Hamada!" exclaimed Aunt Cass. "Don't use that kind of language around Hiro."

Tadashi teasingly covered Hiro's ears. "It's all right Aunt Cass, his little ears didn't hear a thing," he chuckled. Hiro pushed his hands away, huffing.

There was a calming silence. "When do you think you'll go back to SFIT?" asked Hiro, looking at the floor.

"Next week," said Tadashi, excitedly. "I can walk well enough with the crutches. I'll be off them soon. Are you looking forward to it?"

Hiro nodded hesitantly. Tadashi frowned and cupped Hiro's chin, lifting his brother's face to look directly at him. "What's wrong bonehead?" he asked, looking deeply into Hiro's chocolate brown eyes.

Hiro sniffed. "I guess I'm a little nervous…"

"Why?" asked Tadashi gently, taking his hand off Hiro's face and pulling the boy into a one armed hug.

"You know why," mourned Hiro, his voice muffled by Tadashi's shoulder.

"Oh Hiro, I promise that college is very different from high school. Especially a college like SFIT. Everyone there is hard working and sensible, like you." Hiro gave a snort and even Tadashi had to laugh at that. "All right, not so much sensible. But they won't pick on you."

"Promise?" said Hiro trustingly.

"I promise."


	3. Chapter 3

**I'm not American nor have I ever been to college, so my writing about it may not be entirely accurate haha**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own Big Hero 6 or any characters**

 **~princess**

Hiro and Tadashi were enjoying their time off. Hiro had suffered from dizziness and occasionally sickness in the beginning, but he was much better now. Tadashi was completely fine apart from his leg, although that was healing rapidly. Both brothers had suffered minor burns but had received treatment.

Two days after Tadashi came home, Hiro woke up late. He stretched and yawned, gazing at the clear blue sky out of the window. His stomach grumbling, he clambered out of bed and rushed downstairs, skidding to a halt when he saw Tadashi examining what looked suspiciously like timetables.

"Are those…?"

"Our timetables, yes," nodded Tadashi, holding out Hiro's. The boy took it in his hands. "Wasabi picked them for us from college."

Hiro scanned the timetable. There were a lot of free periods where he could study or work on projects, which was good. Comparing it with Tadashi's, he was pleased to see that many of their free periods were at the same time.

"What do you think?" asked Tadashi, watching Hiro's face closely.

"Great!" said Hiro, smiling at his older brother. "I can't wait to get started."

Tadashi sighed in relief and nodded. "I can't wait, either. But for now, how about we get some breakfast then have a game of Fifa?"

"Good idea!"

 _Time skip_

It was a Sunday night and the next morning, Hiro was starting at SFIT. So was Tadashi, but it was Hiro's first time so he struggled to control his butterflies as he brushed his teeth and got into bed.

"Got your stuff ready, bro?" asked Tadashi, who was trying to squeeze a notebook into his bag amongst the millions of notebooks that were already in there.

Hiro rolled his eyes. "Dude, your bag's been unnecessarily packed for weeks. I'll do mine in the morning."

"You won't want to in the morning," pointed Tadashi.

Hiro shrugged.

Tadashi could obviously tell that something was bothering him because the older Hamada came pattering over to Hiro's bed, pushing back the blankets to hug his younger brother. "How are you feeling, bonehead?"

"Fine," said Hiro, squirming in Tadashi's arms.

"Are you sure?" cooed Tadashi.

"Yes," grumbled Hiro. "Don't talk to me like that, I'm not a baby."

"You're my baby brother," murmured Tadashi. Hiro rolled his eyes.

"I'm fourteen! FOURTEEN."

"Exactly," teased Tadashi, tucking his brother's blankets in. "Goodnight, Hiro."

"Mm…night…"

The air was burning. Flames were crackling all around him. Hiro took a deep, shuddering breath. Tadashi had gone inside the building, and he hadn't come out.

Hiro was trying to look for him, but it was too hot…suddenly he was seeing ghostly images of Tadashi…he cried out, the fire burning his back…

"HIRO!"

Hiro sat bolt upright, taking huge, gasping breaths. Sweat was dripping off him like a tap, and he was holding his sheets so tightly that his knuckles were white. His face, however, was bright red.

"Tadashi!" sobbed Hiro trying to get out of bed. Tadashi gently held him in place. Hiro struggled and whimpered.

"I'm here, bonehead," said Tadashi, taking Hiro's hand and squeezing it.

Hiro raised his tear filled eyes; when he realised that it was Tadashi, he flung himself on his brother.

"There now, it's all right…" Tadashi squashed himself into bed with Hiro, wrapping his arms around him. His little brother clung to him tightly, tears cascading down his face. Tadashi's heart was slowly breaking but all he could do was hold the boy. Gradually, Hiro calmed and took regular breaths.

"Bad dream?" said Tadashi quietly.

Hiro nodded slowly. "You went into the fire and you didn't come out."

Tadashi hugged him tighter. "I would never do that. I'm safe. I'm right here."

Hiro nodded, staring at Tadashi as if he thought his brother would disappear if he took his eyes off him.

Hiro was eventually fell back asleep, still clinging to Tadashi like a koala bear. Tadashi smiled warmly and fell asleep too, his cheek resting on Hiro's fluffy black hair.

 _The next morning:_

Hiro groaned when his alarm clock woke him at 6:00. He and Tadashi both had their first class at 10:00; what was his brother THINKING?!

"Why are you getting me up this early?" demanded Hiro, when he had stumbled downstairs and shoved bread into the toaster.

Tadashi glanced up from his newspaper. "It's good to be prepared."

Hiro snorted. "You look like an old man with that newspaper."

"You look like a little kid with those slippers," retorted Tadashi.

Hiro looked down at his feet and blushed as Tadashi laughed. "My feet were cold!" protested the fourteen year old. "Anyway, where's Aunt Cass?"

"Downstairs, opening the café."

The brothers ate a peaceful breakfast together. Because he been awoken at such a ridiculous time, Hiro showered and dressed at his leisure then flicked through some notes on robotics; he knew everything there was to know already, but he wanted to feel prepared. He then sketched some designs in his notebook.

At 9:15, he and Tadashi left on Tadashi's moped. Hiro's butterflies increased drastically as he jumped off the back of it and followed his brother into the college, pulling his backpack on more firmly.

"What's your first class, little bro?" asked Tadashi, once they were inside the main building.

"Computer science," said Hiro.

"Mine's biology. I'll come and get you after class and we'll get food; it'll be lunch by then."

Hiro nodded. "Where's my classroom?" he asked, in a small voice.

Tadashi face palmed. "I forgot about that!" he chuckled. "Come on, follow me."

Hiro was overwhelmed at the size of the place. Now that he was actually a student who had to get to class, the buildings all seemed ten times bigger.

Tadashi delivered him at his class and leaned down to hug him. Hiro shoved him away, embarrassed.

"There's people there!" he hissed.

"Aww come on, it's just brotherly love," teased Tadashi, but respected Hiro's wishes and didn't hug him again. "Well I've got to go, bonehead. I'll meet you here after class, all right?"

Tadashi walked away and Hiro felt very lost without him. Taking a deep breath, he pushed the door open and walked into class.

The other students were sitting down and talking quietly, waiting for the teacher. Hiro sat in the only available corner and pulled out a notebook and pen, biting his lip.

His mind and heart were racing as he glanced around at the other students, who were so much older and bigger than him. His breathing rate was becoming unhealthy and he could almost hear Tadashi telling him to relax. In an attempt to calm himself, Hiro began to mumble the states in alphabetical order.

He had reached Oregon when he realised someone had sat down next to him, and could hear him. His voice trailed off and his cheeks turned pink; avoiding eye contact with whoever it was, he turned his head to look out of the window.

The person burst out laughing. Hiro glanced back warily and saw that it was a young man, a little younger than Tadashi. He had brown hair and blue eyes, and an untrustworthy face.

"Hey, kid," he said. "What's your name?"

"Hiro Hamada," murmured Hiro.

"Just as I thought. You're the prodigy, right?"

Hiro shuddered at the way he said 'prodigy'. "Yeah…I-I guess…"

"I'm Ty," he said.

"Nice to meet you," said Hiro politely, but something told him that meeting Ty was anything but nice.


	4. Chapter 4

**I don't own Big Hero 6 or any characters.**

 **~princess**

A dark haired woman entered the classroom, a pile of books in her arms. She smiled at the students. "Good morning! I'm Professor Hammond. Most of you are new here, so I welcome you to SFIT, especially Hiro Hamada; our youngest ever student!"

Hiro blushed deeply, averting his gaze to his desk as everyone stared at him.

"How old are you?" asked someone.

"Fourteen," muttered Hiro shyly.

A girl whistled. "Fourteen? You must be clever then, right?"

"You don't say," said Hiro sarcastically, before he could stop himself.

Professor Hammond interrupted, to his relief. "Anyway, moving on. So..."

Hiro enjoyed the lesson. Although he was shy, he had a cocky side and loved showing off his intelligence. He knew pretty much everything about computer science already and didn't struggle at all with any of the work, but Ty struggled quite a bit. Hiro could tell that the older male was copying a lot of his notes, but he pretended not to notice.

After class, Hiro grabbed his backpack and rushed out. Tadashi wasn't there, so he leaned against a wall and texted him.

 _Dude, where are you?_

Moments later, Tadashi replied.

 _On my way. Meet you in a minute x_

Hiro cringed as he read the message. He really needed to tell Tadashi to quit putting kisses after all his messages. It was weird.

"Hey!"

He looked up to find Ty almost on top of him.

"Hello," said Hiro politely, moving away slightly. He frowned. Hasn't this guy heard of personal space?

"Whatcha doing?"

"Waiting for my brother."

"Your brother's Tadashi Hamada, right?"

"Yeah."

Ty nodded. "Of course. Tadashi Hamada. Perfect grades, perfect behaviour. All around model student, to be honest."

Hiro glared at him suspiciously. Ty's words were nice, but it sounded a lot like he was making fun of his older brother.

"Tadashi works hard for his grades," said Hiro.

Ty laughed. "I'm just messing with you, I know he does."

"He wants to work in the medical industry," explained Hiro. "He's going to develop lots of technology that will help diagnose illnesses and cure them and…"

"I'm sure he is," said Ty, interrupting before Hiro could tell him Tadashi's entire life story. "Anyway, wanna come and get pizza?"

"I'm waiting for Tadashi," said Hiro, hesitantly.

Ty rolled his eyes. "You can't spend your college life tagging after your brother. He wants to be with his own friends."

Hiro stared. "You don't know us!"

"Dude, he just wants to hang out with people his age, trust me. He may tolerate you, but he's probably bored of you."

"Hiro!"

Before Hiro could retort, he looked up to see Tadashi striding towards them. He grinned and looked smugly at Ty as Tadashi ruffled his hair and put an arm around his shoulders.

"Want to get pizza, little bro?" asked Tadashi, after they had fist bumped.

Hiro smiled and nodded. "Sounds good!"

Tadashi glanced at Ty. "Hello," he said. "Who are you?"

"I'm Tyler Roberts," said Ty.

"Oh," said Tadashi. "Anyway, Hiro and I had better get going. See you around."

Ty glared angrily as the brothers walked away.

"So, how's it going?" asked Tadashi excitedly, as he and Hiro sat down to eat their pizza.

Hiro shrugged. "All right. The class is easy enough."

"That's my bro," said Tadashi proudly. "Only you could say that on your first day of college."

Hiro laughed. "How's it going for you?"

"Good, good. Everyone's still talking about Baymax! There are a couple of things I need to fix in his programming but I'm hoping that soon, many Baymaxes will be made and distributed to hospitals all over America and eventually, the whole world. It's gonna help so many people! I've made plans to visit hospitals with him and see how it goes."

"Won't that put a lot of people out of work, though?"

"Not at all. The aim of Baymax isn't to replace doctors, it's to help them. There are many things that Baymax can't do or can't do as effectively as doctors. He'll massively improve diagnosis, though, and he'll help ensure that everyone is looked after at all times."

Hiro's heart warmed when his brother didn't mention money, not once. The most important thing is to help people.


	5. Chapter 5

**Thank you for all the lovely reviews! xx**

 **I don't own Big Hero 6 or these characters.**

 **~princess**

To Hiro's relief, he shared no more classes with Ty that day. He didn't trust the older boy and he didn't like the way he insulted Tadashi. But when Hiro was on his way to meet Tadashi so he could go home, he was stopped by someone grabbing his arm. Looking over his shoulder, he scowled to see Ty grinning at him.

"Hey, Hiro!" said Ty.

"Hi," replied Hiro.

"Want to go get coffee?"

"Uh, I don't drink coffee."

"Aww." Ty frowned and kicked at a can on the floor. Hiro moved to pick it up. "What are you doing?"

"I'll put in the bin later," said Hiro, shoving the can in his pocket.

Ty laughed loudly. "That's funny. Anyway, where do you live?"

"Lucky Cat Café." Hiro's hands flew to his mouth. He shouldn't have said that!

"That's cool, I live near it. Wanna walk home?"

"U-uh I have to go meet Tadashi…"

"He's in a meeting with Callaghan."

Hiro glared at him suspiciously. "How do you know that?"

"Because Callaghan told me to go and get him a few minutes ago. For the meeting."

"Tadashi would've texted me or something!"

Ty shook his head. "He didn't get a chance. He probably thinks the meeting won't be long but trust me, if I know anything about Callaghan, they won't be finished for an hour or more."

Hiro thought quickly and he shrugged. "I guess I'll walk home then."

"Great!"

Hiro half thought that Ty might suddenly beat him up or something, so he was extremely on edge for the first few minutes. But the young man actually very friendly and set the younger boy at ease.

When Hiro got home, he hugged Aunt Cass then sprinted upstairs. Throwing his bag into a corner, he sighed and collapsed on his bed.

Pulling out his phone, he frowned to see 13 texts and five missed calls from Tadashi.

 _I'm in my lab, I'll be ready to go in five minutes or so if you want to come meet me here_

 _Hiro?_

 _Is your class late?_

 _Hiro I've just been to your classroom and no one's there, where are you?_

 _Bonehead?!_

 _I'll wait for ten more minutes_

 _HIRO?!_

 _I'm getting worried. Answer your phone._

 _I've called you three times and you didn't answer?_

 _I've literally walked all round campus and can't see you anywhere, I told you not to leave the college without me!_

 _BONEHEAD WYD_

 _Get your ass here_

 _I'm going home, if you're not there I'll call the f*****g police omg I'm worried_

Hiro rolled his eyes. His brother was so overprotective! Then it hit him.

Ty had been lying. Tadashi didn't have a meeting with Callaghan.

Hiro debated what to do. Since Tadashi would be on his way home, he might as well wait for him rather than text.

He jumped as he heard Tadashi's voice downstairs; tiptoeing to the stairs, he listened in.

"Hey Aunt Cass, is Hiro home?"

"Yes, he came home a few minutes ago. He said you were in a meeting."

"What?"

"That's what he said…"

"All right."

Hiro gulped as Tadashi walked up the stairs and found himself face to face with his brother.

"So, what's all this about?" Tadashi placed a hand on Hiro's shoulder and gently but firmly pushed his little brother into their room. Closing the door, he pulled off his cardigan and chucked it into his bed. "I texted you so many times! And why did you tell Aunt Cass I was in a meeting?" He sat down in his desk chair to be at eye level with Hiro, raising an eyebrow at his brother.

Seeing the distressed look in Hiro's brown eyes, Tadashi leaned forward in concern and put a hand on his brother's cheek. "Hey bonehead, don't look like that, I'm not mad. I just want to know what's going on."

"I'm sorry Tadashi," blurted out Hiro. "I didn't see your texts until I got home. I walked home with Ty."

"The guy you were with this morning?"

"Yeah."

"Hmm. Anyway, what about this meeting?"

"Ty told me you were in a meeting with Callaghan but I think he just said that so I'd walk with him. He seems to really like me for some reason…"

Tadashi frowned. Since Hiro's middle school experiences, he didn't trust anyone who tried to befriend his brother.

"That's really strange." Tadashi wanted to tell Hiro not to talk to Ty if he could help it, but he understood that he had to let his brother have space and make his own friends. He couldn't control him and be so protective all the time. "Anyway, sorry about all the confusion, bonehead."

"It's fine, sorry for walking home without you…"

Tadashi stood up and hugged him comfortingly. "Don't worry about that. I don't mind you walking home alone, I just prefer it if you're with me or someone else I know."

"Yeah." Hiro hugged him back. "I wanted to walk with you."

Tadashi grinned. "Awww, is my baby bro admitting he likes me?" he said teasingly.

Hiro gave him a shove. "Don't flatter yourself. I get bored if I walk alone!"

"If you say so," smirked Tadashi. Hiro rolled his eyes. "Anyway, do you have any homework?"

Hiro's heart sank as he remembered the five assignments he had been given. On his first day!

"Yeah, I'd better get started," he replied, trudging over to his bag.

"I think I'll have a nap before dinner," yawned Tadashi. "Wake me up if you need anything."

"Will do."


	6. Chapter 6

**I'm so sorry, I had other plans for the direction this chapter would take but then this happened :o what do you think? Did Ty do it on purpose?I don't own Big Hero 6 or any of these characters (except Ty, I guess? XD)**

 **~princess**

Hiro found his homework relatively easy and was soon finished. He quickly grew bored, and woke up Tadashi in the hope of a game.

"You all right, buddy?" asked Tadashi sleepily, as Hiro shook him.

"I've done my homework," sighed Hiro. "Wanna play on the computer or something?"

"Sure," yawned Tadashi.

"Sorry, you can go back to sleep if you want…"

"No, I'll have a game." Tadashi smiled gently at Hiro and pushed himself off the bed, starting up the computer. "What was your homework on?"

"Oh, just physics and stuff." Hiro grabbed a controller.

" _Physics and stuff_?" quoted Tadashi, flicking Hiro's nose lightly. "I can see someone's taking college seriously."

Hiro rolled his eyes. "Come on Tadashi, just because I'm not a sweat like you-"

"Whatever. Come on, I'm gonna win for once!"

"In your dreams, big bro!"

Tadashi was glad to hang out with Hiro a bit and just have fun. He could tell the boy had had a stressful first day, and he wanted him to relax and enjoy college life.

After dinner, Tadashi worked on his homework while Hiro messed around in the garage, experimenting with a few different projects. He didn't come back for a while and Tadashi grew worried when he wasn't in by 10:00 PM.

The young man rushed down to the garage and smiled to see his brother asleep in his chair.

He gently picked Hiro up, trying not to wake the younger boy, flipped off the garage light and walked back up to their bedroom. He laid Hiro on his bed and the boy's chocolate brown eyes flew open.

"Glad to see you back with us," chuckled Tadashi.

"Did I fall asleep?" mumbled Hiro, a light pink blush smattering over his cheeks.

"Yup," said Tadashi, throwing on his pyjamas. "Come on, get changed now. I'm going to bed and you should, too."

At 12:00 PM, Hiro was just drifting off to sleep when his phone buzzed in his bag.

'I must have forgotten to shut it off,' he thought, as he silently slid out of bed and pattered over to his bag. Crawling back into bed with his phone in hand, he blinked in surprise when he saw a text from an unknown number. Opening it, he read:

 _Hey Hiro! It's Ty!_

Hiro sighed and replied.

 _Hi. How did you get my number?_

Ty replied seconds later:

 _One of your friends gave it to me, IDK their name. Anyway, wyd?_

Hiro stifled a yawn. He didn't want to talk to Ty.

 _Trying to sleep, so see you tomorrow_

With that, he turned his phone off and buried his face in his pillow, falling asleep in minutes.

 _The next day, at SFIT:_

Hiro had no classes with Ty that day, in fact he only had mechanical engineering and electrical engineering. He finished earlier than Tadashi but wanted to walk home with his brother, so he went to Tadashi's lab to start on an assignment.

He soon got distracted by thoughts, gazing out of the window. His middle school and high school experiences had been, honestly, horrendous. So much so, he had completely blocked them from his mind.

So far, college wasn't too bad. He gotten a few mocking looks and comments from the older kids, but he was good at ignoring things like that. He had Ty down as a weirdo, but fairly harmless. Besides, Tadashi was always nearby. Nobody would dare hurt the younger brother of Tadashi Hamada.

Which was why Hiro barely reacted when Ty strolled into the lab.

"Hi, Hamada!" he called, throwing something to Hiro. Hiro caught it and glanced down suspiciously, quite pleased to see a chocolate bar.

"Thanks, Ty!" he said, tearing off the wrapper and taking a bite.

"Hey, no problem," said Ty, cheerily. "So, how's it going?"

Easily taken in, Hiro found himself warming to the older male. "Great! You?"

"I'm doing good, thanks."

There was a short silence, and Hiro realised that his throat felt strange. He was struggling to breathe.

Ty noticed. "Dude, you okay? Your face has gone really red…"

Frantically, Hiro grabbed the chocolate wrapper and could have kicked himself. He had never eaten this brand of chocolate before! Why hadn't he checked the ingredients?

"Get…Tadashi…" he gasped.

Ty sped off as Hiro wrenched his phone from his pocket and dialled 911.

Ty had had to interrupt Tadashi's class to fetch the young man, but as soon as he said 'Hiro' Tadashi had leapt from his seat and raced to his lab. He instantly knew what had happened and kneeled down in front of Hiro.

"Hiro! Have you used your epipen?"

"I left it…at h-home…" Hiro was really struggling now.

Tadashi immediately ripped his own bag open and pulled out the spare epipen. Pulling Hiro's shorts down, he counted down from three then jabbed the epipen in his little brother's leg.

"Have you called an ambulance?" he asked, and was relieved to see Hiro's nod. He dug around in his bag and found the inhaler, pressing it to Hiro's lips and pressing down a few times. Hiro was allowed to use the inhaler up to ten times if he had a reaction.

Hiro began breathing a little easier, but he looked awful. His cheeks were flushed, but the rest of his face was deathly white. He clung to Tadashi's hand.

"The ambulance will be here soon. Stay with me, okay? I love you so much." Tadashi pressed his lips to Hiro's forehead as he rubbed his baby brother's back comfortingly.

 **So I have a brother with a very serious nut allergy. Thankfully he's not had nuts since he was a baby but I understand Tadashi's anxiety for Hiro. I know Hiro apparently only has a mild allergy though, so apologies for scaling it up a bit haha**


	7. Chapter 7

**I don't own Big Hero 6.**

 **~princess**

Tadashi insisted on staying with Hiro in the ambulance. He held his little brother's hand the whole time, although he wasn't even sure if Hiro was conscious or not. The boy's face was pale and his breathing was still laboured.

Fortunately, the nurse in the ambulance was friendly and reassured him that Hiro would be fine. "Between both of you, you saved his life," she praised. "He did a good job to call 911 immediately, and he'd be in a worse situation if you weren't so quick to get his epipen and inhaler."

Tadashi managed a small smile, subconsciously rubbing the back of Hiro's hand with his thumb.

 _Time skip:_

Hiro had to be kept quiet for an hour or so, but then Tadashi was allowed to see him.

Tadashi felt nervous as he looked round the door, unsure as to how Hiro would look. To his relief, the younger boy looked fine. Not 100%, but getting there.

Hiro looked overjoyed to see Tadashi, who rushed over and hugged him tightly.

"Honestly, bonehead," murmured Tadashi, pressing his cheek against the top of Hiro's messy black head. "Not even a month and you're already back in hospital."

Hiro giggled. "Sorry…"

"I'm not mad." Tadashi cupped Hiro's chin in his hands, staring at his brother lovingly, tears in his eyes. "I was just scared and worried."

Hiro leaned forward slightly. "Are you crying?"

"Uh, maybe just a little-"

Hiro reached out his hand and wiped his older brother's tears away, shocked. "Don't cry, bro! I'm fine!"

Tadashi chuckled and ruffled his hair.

There was a short silence.

"So…what exactly did you eat, bonehead?" asked Tadashi carefully.

"It was just a chocolate bar," shrugged Hiro.

"What kind?"

"Snickers."

Tadashi looked at him in horror. "SNICKERS?! _You idiot_!"

"I forgot, okay!" retorted Hiro.

"You forgot about your allergy?"

"No, I just didn't really look at what kind of chocolate it was…"

"How did you even get it? We don't buy snickers and they don't sell them at SFIT."

"Ty gave it to me."

Tadashi groaned in frustration. His brother was such a dope at times! "Hiro, you must never take food from someone who doesn't know about your allergy without checking it first!"

"I know, I know!" Hiro was getting frustrated, too. "Calm down. I'm sorry, okay?"

Tadashi took a deep breath and pulled Hiro into another hug. "I know, baby bro…I'm so sorry. Just be careful in the future, all right?"

Hiro nodded. "I will, Dashi!"

The door burst open, interrupting their brotherly moment, and Ty charged in. Before Hiro had even noticed, the young man had thrown his arms around him and was hugging him even tighter than Tadashi had.

"Ty?" Hiro was shocked.

"Ty." Tadashi's eyes narrowed, and Hiro gave him a warning glance.

"I'm so sorry." Ty let go of Hiro, seeming genuinely anxious. "I had no idea! I would never have bought a snickers bar if I knew…"

"It's okay, dude. It's my fault for not checking," assured Hiro.

"Hmm," said Tadashi. "I'll forgive you, Ty." He nodded at the young man, giving him a slight smile.

Ty was visibly relieved. "Thank you! How long will you be in hospital for?"

Hiro shrugged, so Tadashi answered for him. "He should be out by tonight. He'll be back at college tomorrow."

"Great!"

 _Later that evening:_

Hiro had been brought home at 5:30 PM. He and Tadashi had worked together on their homework in the hospital, so they were free all evening.

Hiro honestly didn't know how he felt about Ty. He still didn't trust him, but he was warming to him. However, he wasn't even sure that he wanted a friend. He had Tadashi, and Go Go and the rest. Tadashi was his best friend and he didn't really care about having any others. He was perfectly content with the way he was.

"Penny for your thoughts," remarked Tadashi, interrupting Hiro's deep thinking.

Hiro smiled feebly at him. "I was just daydreaming, that's all."

"Whatever. The new Star Wars film is on. Wanna watch it?"

Hiro nodded eagerly. Tadashi got up and came back a few seconds later with a large bowl of popcorn. He placed it on his lap, and smiled as he felt his Hiro snuggle into his side.

As the brothers became engrossed in the film and shared their popcorn, both of them forgot all about Ty and anyone else.


	8. Chapter 8

**Sorry this chapter is kinda short! I'll try to post at least two updates over the weekend and one tomorrow :-) I didn't have a lot of time to write tonight because of homework...I can relate to Hiro in this chapter, lol.**

 **BH6 Fan: Omg your review nearly had me in tears! Thank you so so so much! 3**

 **SweetWritingIsMyLife: OMG I kinda had a fangirl moment when I saw your review because 'A Real Hiro' is one of my favourite BH6 stories and when I realised you wrote it I was like, the author of that amazing story likes my story?! Anyway, thanks to you too! ^-^**

 **~princess**

Hiro ended up falling asleep on the sofa, his head resting on Tadashi's shoulder and his feet on the older male's lap. Tadashi let him sleep, soothingly running his fingers through the boy's black hair as he watched the last ten minutes of the film.

As the credits appeared on the screen, Tadashi switched off the TV and stood up, holding Hiro effortlessly. He met Aunt Cass on her way upstairs from closing up the café.

"Still up?" she said quietly, noticing the sleeping boy in Tadashi's arms.

"Yeah, we watched a film," whispered Tadashi. "As you can see, someone needs to go to bed…"

Aunt Cass giggled, smiling at her youngest nephew. "Well, goodnight," she said in hushed tones, as Tadashi leaned down and kissed her cheek. "And Tadashi…look after him, won't you? College is tough at any age; it can't be easy, going so young."

"Of course I'll look after him, Aunt Cass," reassured Tadashi, subconsciously holding Hiro closer to him as if someone would suddenly appear and kidnap his brother there and then. "I always do."

Aunt Cass smiled at him lovingly, happy tears in her eyes. "And you always have."

 _Page break_

Tadashi placed Hiro gently on his bed, his mind racing as he gazed protectively at the younger Hamada. He had a gut feeling that something bad was going to happen to his little brother, and that there was something Hiro wasn't telling him. He growled, tiredly pushing back his hair and leaning down to plant a soft kiss on Hiro's forehead before going to his own bed.

 _Time skip_

The next morning, Hiro and Tadashi were eating breakfast when Hiro's phone buzzed. Frowning, Hiro swallowed his Weetabix and put down the spoon before checking the device.

"It's Ty," he said hesitantly. "He's offering to give me a lift to school."

"Do you want to go with him?" asked Tadashi, watching Hiro's face carefully.

"Uh…I don't know, we-"

"Hiro, you are allowed, you know," said Tadashi in amusement. Seriously, he added: "Don't worry about hurting my feelings or anything like that. I don't mind."

"Are you sure?" Hiro searched his brother's face anxiously; he really felt a little guilty for just abandoning him.

"Yes," chuckled Tadashi. "Don't be so silly, bonehead."

The ride to school in Ty's car was awkward and tense. Ty chattered nineteen to the dozen, but Hiro was too shy to respond with extensive answers.

Computer science was the first class. Hiro doodled in a notebook as usual, only half listening to Professor Hammond. He had read about this lesson in a university book when he was eight.

However, a jolt of fear went through his entire body when the professor made an announcement, and he froze.

"You'll choose any component of a computer and make a presentation about it," explained the professor. "You must also construct the component you present. Work in pairs and present to the class next week on Monday."

Hiro gulped. Not to his surprise, Ty instantly suggested they paired up.

"I'm sure we'll do a great presentation!" said the older boy enthusiastically.

"Y-yeah," replied Hiro, giving a small smile. "Uh…I was thinking, maybe if I did more work on actually putting together the presentation or whatever, you do most of the actual presenting? I'm, um, not that cool with presenting…"

"Really?" Ty raised an eyebrow. "You presented your own invention to get here in the first place."

"Yeah, but I was nervous as hell!" Hiro was sweating slightly. "Please…"

"Relax, dude," said Ty firmly. "Sure I'll do most of the talking. Don't worry."

Hiro sighed in relief and beamed at Ty. "Thank you!"

 _Time skip_

Hiro groaned and sighed, putting his face in his hands. The physics homework was impossible! How could he not understand something?!

"What's wrong, bonehead?" asked Tadashi in concern, putting down his magazine.

"This!" Hiro scrunched up the assignment and threw it on the floor. "I can't do it!"

"Whoa, whoa! Slow down." Tadashi kneeled in front of his brother's chair to be face to face with Hiro. "Look at me."

Hiro raised his chocolate brown eyes to Tadashi's identical ones. The younger boy looked angry and frustrated.

"First of all, calm down. You won't get anywhere by losing your temper like that."

Hiro took a deep breath, trying to calm himself.

"That's it, bro." Tadashi reached over and picked up the sheet of paper, smoothing it out. "Right, let's have a look at this."

Hiro tapped his fingers on the chair, staring at the floor as Tadashi examined the questions.

"I remember doing this last year. It's tricky, but I know you'll get the hang of it." Tadashi moved so he was next to Hiro rather than in front of him, placing the sheet on his little brother's lap and leaning down.

Hiro paid close attention as Tadashi explained the topic.

"I get it now," he said happily, and his older brother beamed at him. "Thanks dude."

"Anytime, bonehead," said Tadashi fondly, ruffling Hiro's hair as he straightened up. "Just because you're a genius, you're not expected to know everything, okay? You can always ask me for help."


	9. Chapter 9

**This is a short chapter with little fluff or anything really, but it's necessary to speed the story along and pick up the plot.**

 **The issue with Ty will be solved in the next chapter, but the story will continue- Ty was never intended to be a major character or have any plot significance, I just made him up to have someone to kind of bully Hiro a little bit (sorry Hiro, love you!) but then people mentioned him a lot in their reviews and so I thought 'hey, I could do something with this dude'**

 **I don't own Big Hero 6.**

 **~princess**

Hiro was by now settled into his timetable and college life. He had been worried that he and Tadashi would become distant, but that didn't happen at all; if anything, they grew closer as they supported each other.

However, over the next few days, strange things started to happen to Hiro. At first he thought nothing of them, but as it continued he realised that someone was behind it.

It began when his copy of a physics textbook went missing. Luckily, the professor had spares but he didn't hide his annoyance, which put Hiro in a bad mood.

In the same day, the science paper he had spent hours working on was covered in ink blots when he took it out of his bag to hand in. He stared at in horror. It certainly hadn't looked like that when he had put it into his bag that morning!

Little things started to go missing too, such as pens and, to Hiro's irritation, his only calculator. Not that Hiro needed it, since he could do any sum in his head in seconds, but it was required of every physics student to have a calculator.

When Hiro discovered at lunch that his phone was missing, he freaked out until he went to the office and found out that someone had handed it in. When Hiro asked who it was, they said they didn't know; the phone had just been left on the desk.

Feeling grumpy and confused, Hiro shoved his phone in his pocket and rushed to meet Tadashi for lunch.

"You okay?" asked Tadashi, as the brothers sat down at a table. Tadashi had pizza and Hiro had noodles.

"Not really," scowled Hiro, wrapping noodles around his fork and stuffing them in his mouth.

Tadashi watched, a little amused, as his brother angrily ate his food. "What's happened?"

"I don't even know! This morning I lost my physics textbook and had to get a new one. The paper I wrote for computer science was covered in ink and I have to do it again- it's the one I spent three hours on! All my pens have gone missing and so has my calculator. Finally, my phone disappeared and the reason I was late meeting you is because I went to get it from the office."

Tadashi frowned. "Wow, you're knuckleheaded, but not enough for all those things to be an accident."

Hiro stared. "You mean someone's doing this?"

Tadashi snorted. His little brother was so innocent. "I'm pretty certain someone's behind it, yeah. It just isn't possible for so many things to go missing purely as a result of bad luck."

"Who could it be, though?" Hiro was a little hurt to think that someone hated him enough to go out of their way to do all that.

"I have no idea. Do you know anyone who dislikes you?"

"Not particularly…but most people probably don't like me, what with me being fourteen and all."

Tadashi frowned at this, and his frown deepened when he thought of something. "What about that Ty?"

"He's my friend!" said Hiro defensively. "He would never do this to me."

Listening to the conversation from behind a vending machine, Ty smirked. 'That little brat has no idea it's me! Serves Tadashi right, and his annoying brother.'

 _Time skip:_

Hiro was careful not to let his bag out of his sight for the rest of the week, and the only thing that happened was that his new calculator went missing. He figured that someone must have swiped it off the table when he wasn't looking. This greatly frustrated him, as he had to buy a calculator for the second time that week, and Aunt Cass wasn't pleased, either.

On Monday, it was the day of the presentation. Hiro's stomach churned with nerves when he thought of it. He was consoled by the fact that Ty would be presenting most of it; but his hopes were completely dashed when he got to school and discovered that the young man had a sore throat.

"Sorry, Hiro," said Ty, his voice nothing more than a hoarse whisper. "My throat is awful. I'll stand at the front and switch the slides for you, but I can't say a word."

Hiro felt like throwing up there and then, but he assured Ty that it was okay.

He stammered his way through the presentation, and couldn't have been more relived that it was over. He bore no hard feelings towards Ty; after all, it was no one's fault that he had a sore throat.

However, Hiro certainly had mixed feelings when he walked round a corner to see Ty talking to his friend, his voice completely normal. Hiro had quietly backtracked and Ty didn't know he was there, but Hiro was extremely upset and puzzled.

Ty didn't have a sore throat at all. He had lied, just so Hiro would have to do the presentation on his own, when he knew how terrified the younger boy was.


	10. Chapter 10

**This chapter is short, but you'll be glad to know Ty's out of the story from now on! How dare he bully** **Hiro?! :-(**

 **The story IS continuing, even though the issue with Ty is solved! I don't know how many chapters there'll be, but I want to explore other challenges Hiro could face with being a 14 year old genius at college. And there will be shameless fluff.**

 **Just a quick note: 'pond life' is a slang term used to refer to scum. It may not be used where you live, so I thought I'd let you know here so you won't be confused :-)**

 **I don't own Big Hero 6 or the gorgeous Hiro and Dashi.**

 **~princess**

Hiro ran to find Tadashi. He found the eighteen year old with his friends in the lab, waiting for Hiro so he could take him home.

"Hey, kid," said Go Go, as Hiro rushed towards them.

"Hi," panted Hiro.

"What's the hurry?" asked Tadashi, ruffling Hiro's hair. "You okay?"

Hiro shook his head. "Ty…"

Tadashi's gaze hardened and a fierce look came over his face. "What's he done to you?"

"We were supposed to do a presentation together…he pretended to have a sore throat but I just heard him talking totally fine. He lied, and he knew how nervous I was about presenting…"

Tadashi clenched his fists. "I bet it's him who's behind everything else too!"

"Wait, who's Ty?" asked Wasabi, confused.

"My friend," mumbled Hiro. "Or at least, I thought he was. Tyler Roberts."

Honey Lemon gave a gasp. "Him?"

 _"_ _Dude, what if Hiro finds out about this?" asked Ty's friend, as the two young men walked down the corridor._

 _"_ _How will he?" said Ty, with a shrug. "I just need to keep pretending to be his friend, but eventually I'll make him run crying to Tadashi somehow. It'll do Tadashi good for something to go wrong in his life. He's got perfect grades, perfect looks, everyone loves him. That's why she left me." Ty spat onto the floor. "I'm sick of Tadashi Hamada and I'm sick of his brother. I'm sure they're not as perfect as everyone makes them out to be."_

"You know him?" asked Hiro, recovering from his run.

"We were dating in high school," explained Honey. "We started at SFIT together but began to grow distant. I felt it wasn't working anymore, so I ended the relationship. He actually failed his exams last year- that's why he's in the same class as you, Hiro."

"Y-you dated him?" Hiro was beyond confused.

"He was nice back then…he was obviously hurt when I broke up with him, but then he got held back a year and we never saw each other anymore. I moved on, and I thought he had too."

"This still doesn't explain why he bullies Hiro," frowned Tadashi. "I feel like it's a link, though…"

Hiro was on the verge of tears. He tugged at Tadashi's sleeve, and the older Hamada leaned down to hug him.

"He'll keep acting like my friend," whispered Hiro into Tadashi's ear, snuggling into the hug, glad of the comfort and not caring what his friends thought. "If I stop being friends with him…what if he beats me up…" Memories of past school experiences flooded into his mind and he clung to Tadashi tighter.

Tadashi gave a grim smile. "Don't worry bro, I'll be the only one beating anyone up. I won't let him touch you."

"Where are you going?" asked Hiro, as Tadashi straightened up and strode towards the door.

"To find the pond life who called himself your friend," hissed Tadashi. "You stay here, little bro. And you guys. I'll deal with him."

 _Five minutes later:_

"So," yelled Tadashi, holding Ty against a wall. His brown eyes glimmered with anger. "You're my brother's friend?"

Ty gulped. "Y-yeah!"

"Some friend you are." Tadashi lifted Ty up then dropped him, standing on his leg and putting his arm in a lock before he could even think about getting up. "I bet it was you who took Hiro's calculators, phone, pens, book and ruined his homework, am I right?"

"No!" Ty squirmed, but immediately went limp and winced when Tadashi applied a little more pressure to the lock.

"You'd better be telling the truth, because in this position, I could dislocate your shoulder in seconds. And I already know you're a loser because you made Hiro do that presentation his own."

"I had a sore throat," gasped Ty.

Tadashi pressed his heel down on the inside of Ty's thigh, causing a high pitched squeal to come from the man on the floor. "Sore throat, hmm? Well you can certainly scream," mocked Tadashi. "My brother heard you talking just now. Your voice is fine. You lied."

Ty whimpered. "Okay, it was me who took his stuff last week," he hissed. "But only because I hate you, Tadashi Hamada! Honey and I could have been married by now, if you and your perfection hadn't turned up and lured her away. The second she laid eyes on you, I knew it was over for me."

"Don't be stupid. Honey left you because she didn't like you, not because she liked me. We're not even dating. And let me guess, you were too cowardly to come after me so you used my little brother to get your revenge? Is that correct?"

"YES!" Ty threw a punch, but Tadashi blocked it when ease and delivered a backfist to Ty's face.

"If you want to walk away from here with no permanent injuries, I suggest you promise to never touch my brother again. Don't even talk to him," instructed Tadashi.

Ty saw that he had no choice. "Okay, I promise!"

"Good." Tadashi punched Ty's stomach to ensure that he would stay on the floor for a bit, then released the lock and got to his feet. "You're lucky that I was so nice. You'll have a beautiful bruise on your face tomorrow, though. Goodbye!"


	11. Chapter 11

Sorry about this chapter, it's really just a filler chapter to show the aftermath of everything that's happened. The rest of this story will pretty much just be random little scenes with the brothers and their friends, and although Hiro says he likes exams, he doesn't know what's coming to him...mwahaha...

Also, I am aware that Hiro already knew karate before the fire, but I thought it would be cute to show Tadashi teaching him for the first time :3

I don't own Big Hero 6.

~princess

"You ready to go, bonehead?" asked Tadashi, picking up his bag from the floor and grabbing his keys.

"Coming!" Hiro snatched up his bag and bounded outside, leaping onto the back of the moped. Tadashi followed at a more dignified pace, and the brothers set off.

When they arrived at the college, Hiro trailed behind, seeming reluctant to go in. Tadashi turned and gave him a puzzled look.

"Hey, you okay?" he asked quietly, bending down a little to meet Hiro's eyes.

"Ty's gonna be so mad at me," explained Hiro.

A hard glimmer appeared in Tadashi's eyes. "Oh, no he won't," assured the older Hamada. "He won't go near you. He knows what will happen if he does. I was this close to dislocating his shoulder last time we spoke."

"I sit next to him in computer science…"

"Not anymore. Come on, you."

"Where are we going?" Hiro hurried to catch up with his brother.

"To your computer science class."

"I don't have it today."

"Shush." Tadashi strode on until they arrived at Professor Hammond's room. The teacher smiled as Tadashi entered; she had had him as student before, and he was undoubtedly her favourite.

"Hello, Tadashi!" She peered behind him. "Oh, I forgot, you're brothers, aren't you?! Gosh, you do look alike."

Tadashi grinned and Hiro smiled shyly.

"Professor, I need to talk to you about your seating plan," said Tadashi politely.

Professor Hammond looked confused. "What's wrong? I thought Hiro was in my class, not you?"

"He sits next to Tyler Roberts, correct?"

The professor nodded. "He does."

"I'd like you to move him, please."

The professor looked hesitant but Tadashi flashed her a warm smile, putting his arm around Hiro's shoulders and hugging his brother to him protectively.

"Of course," said the professor. "Do you have any preference as to where you'd like to sit, Hiro?"

"Not really," mumbled Hiro. "Just not near Ty, please."

"You can swap places with Candice," said the professor, pointing to a seat near the front of the class. "Okay?"

Hiro nodded, beaming. "Thank you!"

"What do you say we get something to drink, bonehead?" suggested Tadashi. "We have a bit of time before class."

"Sounds good."

The brothers made their way to a little café on the campus, delighted to find Go Go and Honey there.

"Morning, guys," nodded Go Go.

"Hiro!" Honey jumped up and hugged the teen. "I didn't get a chance to say it, but I'm so sorry about what happened."

Hiro smiled and patted her on the back. "Don't be sorry, it wasn't your fault."

Tadashi, who had gone to get drinks, came back with two cups of tea. He handed one to Hiro, who sat down to drink it gratefully.

"So, how are you two this morning?" asked Tadashi, dipping a digestive biscuit in his tea.

"Not bad," said Go Go.

"Great!" beamed Honey. "I've got a chemistry exam today."

"That's great?" questioned Tadashi.

"Yes, I get to answer questions about chemistry for an hour! I love exams."

"I agree," said Hiro, enthusiastically.

Tadashi gave him a playful shove. "You only like exams because you can show off your brains."

"Pffft."

 _Later that afternoon:_

"Hurry up bonehead, we've only got the dojo for an hour. Start stretching."

Grumpily, Hiro joined Tadashi on the floor.

"And don't look so glum. I'm going to equip you with life skills."

"Hmm." Hiro lay on his stomach and touched his head with his feet.

"I'd forgotten how flexible you are," admitted Tadashi. "You should be able to kick pretty high."

"Useful for someone like me," joked Hiro.

Tadashi nodded seriously.

He was going to teach Hiro karate. Tadashi actually had a black belt in both that and jiu jitsu, but Hiro didn't want to do proper classes and Tadashi was too big for him to practice on.

"Block higher! Your arm won't do any good in front of your face." Before Hiro could move his arm, Tadashi aimed a punch to the boy's jaw, deliberately stopping it short. "See? It gives an open target and because your arm is blocking your eyes, you can't see attacks coming."

"Okay, okay, I get it!" grumbled Hiro.

Tadashi taught him basic blocks, strikes and kicks and how to react in basic situations. He was pleased with Hiro's progress; although his brother's blocks and strikes left much to be desired, his kicks were excellent.

"Next lesson we'll look at some different situations, such as someone grabbing you from behind," said Tadashi enthusiastically, as he changed from his gi into his clothes. "You'll be a little ninja in no time, bro."

Puffing and panting, Hiro pushed back his wet hair and slipped his hoodie on. "If you say so. Come on, let's go home. Aunt Cass is making hot wings."


	12. Aother's Note: On Hiatus!

**Hello!**

 **'After the Fire' will now be on hiatus; apologies for not letting you guys know earlier.**

 **The hiatus will last until the end of February AT MOST.**

 **I will still be uploading stories to my profile, but since I've been working on this one and moving this story along for a while, it's starting to feel like a chore since when I sit down to write I'm constantly thinking 'where shall I take the plot?'. Also, I really need to get my life together in terms of my school studies.**

 **So, I won't be disappearing but this particular story won't be updated for a couple or more weeks. Feel free to pester me and flood my PMs with suggestions :-)**

 **Thank you to all who have favourited, followed, reviewed or just read and enjoyed the story, I can't express my gratitude enough. I do check those things so if you haven't reviewed but you've been following this story, I notice and I'm thanking you :-D**

 **~princess**


	13. Chapter 12

**This is a result of suggestions from hardygirl17 and Alice Shiota...thank you guys and thank you to everyone for the support...I think this chapter is terrible but I struggled to find a cause for their fight, since neither of the Hamada bros are the type of people to get angry with each other, like it would need something huge for that to happen...as a result Hiro is extremely OOC in this chapter and the others might be as well. Idk.**

 **This chapter really reflects my mood lately and if any of you guys have exams etc, you may be able to relate to Hiro in this chapter XD**

 **Do not worry, all will be well in the next chapter!**

 **Best wishes**

 **~princess**

With Ty out of the way, Hiro was able to relax and enjoy college. He still didn't have any friends in his actual classes, but it didn't really matter as he hung out with Tadashi or Tadashi's friends outside class. The work was difficult but well within Hiro's ability; he was very happy.

However, it was soon time for exams. Hiro had mixed feelings about his first ones, as he knew that all the professors would be hoping for high grades from the young genius. It wasn't like the exams were difficult; but his mind kept telling him to work harder and as a result, he became very stressed a few days before the exams. This, of course, led to him becoming ill.

He ignored his sore throat and headache at first, in favour of focusing on his work. His symptoms got worse throughout the day and as he desperately reread his physics notes at home, he couldn't concentrate at all.

After ten minutes, he realised that he was looking at the wrong notes. ' _These aren't the ones I made in class today- the stuff I need for the exam tomorrow_ ,' he thought in annoyance, as he tossed them aside and rushed upstairs to the bedroom.

They were nowhere to be found. "Tadashi!" he snapped, wanting nothing more than to curl up in a ball and sleep for the next twenty years or so. "Have you seen my notes?"

Tadashi removed his earphones and raised an eyebrow. "Your notes? You'll have to be more specific."

Not in the mood for his brother's light hearted sarcasm, Hiro huffed. "I put them all in a folder!"

"What colour is the folder?"

"Purple."

"No, I haven't seen a purple folder."

"Really?" Hiro was deflated. "I thought you might have, seeing as you were tidying my desk before."

"What? No, I wasn't."

"You were. I saw you messing around near it. You must have moved it, Dashi!"

"Hiro, I haven't touched any purple folders! Look in your bag again." Exasperated, Tadashi shoved his earphones back into his ears, considering his role in the conversation to be over. Hiro hadn't been acting like himself all day.

"You're not even listening to me!" His temper completely lost, Hiro tore over to Tadashi and pulled his earphones out. Startled, Tadashi gave an angry exclamation and snatched them back. Hiro flinched, raising his eyes to Tadashi.

Tadashi saw the younger boy's bewildered expression and immediately felt guilty. "Listen, Hiro, I-"

"What's wrong with you?" demanded Hiro. "I thought you were supposed to help me."

Feeling that Hiro badly needed to be put firmly in his place, Tadashi responded. "I'll always help you, bonehead, if I can. But you just came up here and expected me to know where your folder is. It was pretty rude, but I apologise. I shouldn't have been so harsh. How about we look for your folder together?" Placing a hand on Hiro's shoulder, Tadashi spoke reassuringly. "It can't be far away. We'll find it, don't stress."

"How do you know that?! I've been looking for ages!" ' _It's all right for him, he's always so organised_!'

"Well, excuse me for trying to help," said Tadashi, a little offended.

"Just leave me alone." Rubbing his aching head, Hiro went to his side of the room and crawled into bed, curling up and quickly drifting off into a deep, anxious sleep.

Thinking that the younger boy was ignoring him and sulking, Tadashi spoke sternly. "You're being ridiculous. You need to calm down."

There was no answer, and Tadashi sighed.

 _Later, at dinner:_

"Does Hiro not want dinner?" asked Aunt Cass, concerned.

"He's giving me the silent treatment. He wouldn't answer when I told him dinner was ready."

"I'll go check on him."

When Aunt Cass returned, she seemed confused. "He's not ignoring you, Tadashi. He's asleep."

"Well, he was ignoring me before!"

"Have you two had a fight?"

"Kind of…he was stressing about a missing folder or something and when I offered to help, he got in a weird mood with me. He's been acting strange all day."

"Perhaps he's ill," mused Aunt Cass.


	14. Chapter 14

**Sorry this chapter is so short but I'm sick and we're having the house rewired so I struggled to access my laptop :-(**

 **This chapter is based on a request from hardygirl17 (I thought your request would fit nicely for a chapter of this story so that's what I used it for- I hope that's okay ^^)**

 **~princess**

Hiro slept soundly and didn't wake up until the middle of the night. His eyes fluttered open and he coughed; his throat was painfully sore and his head still ached.

Struggling to sit up and prop himself on his elbows, he looked over and saw that Tadashi was in bed, snoring a little. He blinked, confused for a moment, and then sighed as he remembered the events of that evening.

Dizzy with pain, he forced his legs over the edge of the bed and got shakily to his feet. Slowly, he stumbled over to Tadashi, coughing into his fist as he did so.

Tadashi awoke immediately when he felt Hiro's hand shaking him. He jumped and his eyes snapped open; they met Hiro's glassy ones. "What's wrong?" he whispered.

"My throat hurts and so does my head," whimpered Hiro.

Tadashi was out of bed in an instant, and turned his bedside lamp on as the main light might hurt Hiro's head, unlike the soft glow of the lamp. Seeing that Hiro was shivering, he grabbed a blanket and wrapped it around his little brother then lifted him onto his bed. "You stay there, I'll be back in a moment."

Hiro watched, teeth chattering, pulling the blanket tightly around himself as Tadashi fumbled in the cupboard in the bathroom. His brother soon returned with a glass of water and a box of painkillers.

"Here, have one of these," murmured Tadashi gently, slipping a tablet into Hiro's hand. Hiro swallowed it quickly and took a few more sips of water, relishing the soft, cool liquid.

With a hum, the younger boy leaned sideways sleepily, his body resting against Tadashi's. Tadashi stroked his hair soothingly with one hand and wrapped an arm around his shoulders. "How do you feel?" he muttered.

"All right," mumbled Hiro. "Dashi…I'm sorry…"

"For what?" Tadashi continued to support Hiro, who was trying to fight off sleep.

"For arguing with you," said Hiro, gazing at his brother with his huge brown eyes. "I didn't mean to…"

"Shhh, I understand. It wasn't your fault. Let's forget it, hmm?" Tadashi brushed a strand of black hair from Hiro's face.

"Okay," mumbled Hiro, a yawn escaping his mouth. "And let's never fight again."

Tadashi smiled and picked his brother up with ease. He walked back to Hiro's side of the room and gently laid the younger boy down on his bed, tucking him in warmly.

"Goodnight, Hiro." Seeing that the teen was asleep already, Tadashi adjusted the blankets slightly and moved some of Hiro's hair out of his face again, then crawled back into his bed.

And of course, Hiro got top grades on all of his exams.


End file.
